Manly Silence
by Cheryl W
Summary: Fluffy tag to the Usual Suspects. Sometimes things need to be said and sometimes they don't. No Slash.


Manly Silence

Author: Cheryl W.

Disclaimer: I do not own Dean, Sam or any rights to Supernatural, nor am I making any profit from this story.

Author's Note: Pure fluffy conversation with little to no value except I love to hear the boys talk….ok, so maybe this isn't what they'd say but it's what I _wish_ they'd say. Unbetaed so all mistakes are 100 mine.

Summary:Fluffy tag to the Usual Suspects. Sometimes things need to be said and sometimes they don't. No Slash.

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As the two Winchester brothers made their way through the woods which had almost been Dean's last resting place, Sam shot a look to his brother, "You alright?"

"Who, me? I'm fine. Got a new lease on life, Sammy."

"Dean, it was too close. If we hadn't gotten there right when we did…."

"I wouldn't have wasted any of the tax payers' money on a trial, a new suit and a nice lethal injection."

"Please don't do that," a plea was in Sam's voice.

"Do what?"

"Downplay this! The guy had a gun to your head, was going to kill you! And before that you were in jail, Dean. On murder charges…from here…and St. Louis! And if she hadn't just let us walk away, you'd be back in prison, heading for St. Louis, about to be tried for murder!"

"Alright, it's been a bad day…" Dean began to concede, sensing the edge his brother was on.

"I was scared, Dean. I mean really scared."

Instantly, Dean sought to ease his little brother's fears. "Hey, the most they can tag on you is impersonating law officers, the occasional B & E, nothing that'll stick."

"Not scared for me, scared for you!"

"Sam…"

But Sam cut Dean off, unwilling, unable to be placated this time. "Sitting in that police station, hearing them talk about you like you're some twisted killer, saying that your life was over…Not being able to see you, to talk to you …Dean I just, it was hard, man. So don't tell me this was nothing, that we just move on, leave it behind us."

Dean sighed and looked to Sam as they continued to walk. "Then what do you want me to do Sam? Talk about how bad it sucked facing the death penalty, being helpless while that cop dragged me out of the police station, away from you, took me out to the woods, put a gun in my face, ready to blow my brains out. 'Cause I gotta say, talking about it…it's not making me feel any better Sam. In fact, it's just making me feel worse. This is the life we live, the crap that we have to deal with. And for me," Dean snorted, "walking away isn't an option…not any more."

"You have options, Dean."

"Dean Winchester is wanted for murder Sam! I can't outrun that forever. Maybe we should split up for awhile, give the cops hell trying to track us down in opposite directions of the country."

There was granite in Sam's one word. "No."

"Sam, it's the smart thing to do. I'm on the shoot first, ask questions later list, dude."

"I said no, Dean. I mean, don't you listen to a thing I say. I just told you how crappy it was not being able to see you, talk to you for a few lousy hours and now you think I'll agree to not see you for a week, a month, a year. No way, Dean! It's not going to happen. I got you set up for the murders. It was my friend, my insistence that we go there…"

"You had a friend in trouble, in jail. He'd still be there if we hadn't gone there and how many other women would have died?"

Regret still hued Sam's reply. "We shouldn't have gone there."

"Now who isn't listening? Your friend needed…"

"Zach isn't you, alright! And those women…if you're asking me to weigh their lives against yours…it's not a hard choice. If we hadn't gone there, if I hadn't screwed up, if I had killed the shape shifter when he first came to me wearing your face…you'd be safe, Dean. You wouldn't be a wanted man."

"Dude, it's not your fault. You know as well as I do that things happen on a hunt that we don't plan on, end up taking more from us than we were willing to sacrifice."

"If the cop hadn't taken you out of jail to waste you, you'd be facing those murder charges! So don't tell me about how hunts go, what we have to sacrifice sometimes to get the job done!"

Silence fell at Sam's heated words, the crunch of dried leaves under their feet the only sound besides their breathing until Dean spoke, quietly, earnestly.

"Fine, I was scared, scared at the police station, scared out here facing a bullet, just plain old scared. Is that what you want to hear, Sam?!"

"Yeah …I guess so," Sam concluded weakly before he began biting his bottom lip. With a gust of air he confessed, "Ah crap that makes me feel worse!"

"Yeah, me too," Dean mumbled, kicking at some sticks on the ground before he shot a look to his brother. "See there's something to be said for doing the strong silent routine, for outlawing chick flick moments."

"Yeah," Sam agreed on a topic he never thought he would and it made the whole day even worse.

"You're not gonna cry on me are you Sammy?"

"No, course not!"

"'Cause we never had this conversation."

His brow creased, Sam asked, "We didn't?"

"Nope, never happened. You asked if I was good, I said I was and then we walked away in manly silence. Roll credits," Dean said with confidence, as if he were filling in missing time in Sam's mind.

Sam found he couldn't help the smile that tipped up his lips. Shaking his head, he laughed, "I can't believe you passed me a note?!"

"Hey I didn't see any pipes to tap out a Morse code."

"The great escape!?"

"I know, pretty impressive huh? Haven't seen the movie in years and I still remembered his character's name."

"You and your fascination with tv and movie characters! You know how stupid I looked registering into the motel as Jim Rockford. The old guy behind the desk couldn't stop talking about the Rockford files, how he thought James Garner should have stuck to being Maverick."

"Poor Sammy. Meanwhile I'm in the pokey getting my butt kicked by a psycho killer with a badge."

That grabbed Sam's full attention. "What do you mean? The cop assaulted you?!"  
Dean smirked boldly, "Right on camera. So much for Rodney King's thing working for me."

"That SOB!"

Quirking a puzzled eyebrow, Dean growled, "You're mad at him over that?! Two seconds ago he had a gun to my head."

"Well of course I'm mad over him almost killing you but assault in front of witnesses… were you handcuffed? Could you defend yourself?"

"Defend myself?! And what? Go straight to the death row, do not collect $100, do not pass go. No, Sam I didn't defend myself even though I had my hands free. Seemed to be the wrong thing to do."

When Sam spoke again, it was again that quiet, thoughtful tone that tended to rip into Dean's barriers. "You know Diana asked me why we split up, said we had done everything together in Baltimore and then we split up and she didn't understand why."

"Yeah, so?"

"We shouldn't have split up, Dean. It's what we always do wrong."

"We're not tied together at the hip Sam. And well…you were doing your thing and I was bored so I went and did my thing…"

"Well from here on out, your thing is my thing and my thing is your thing."

"Sam, that, what you just said, don't say it again, man. It sounds…wrong!" Dean lowly ordered.

"I _mean _we're sticking together from here on out," Sam reiterated firmly.

"Sam stop flipping out."

"I'm not flipping out I'm setting the new rules."

"I'm the older brother, I set the rules, Sammy."

"Well, then set a rule that says you can't put me through this again."

"Ok. Sounds like a fair rule to me."

As they made slow process back toward civilization, Sam hesitantly began, "Dean, about the Impala…."

"We're getting her out tonight, Sam."

"If you get locked up again, she can't come see you for conjugal visits, Dean. You know that, right?"  
"Shut up!" Dean laughed and gave Sam a hearty shove on his shoulder, causing his laughing brother to stumble.

"Race ya to the road?" Sam challenged.

"Sure, ready, set…" and Dean took off full out, leaving Sam to growl out "Cheater!" before he set off after his brother, their laughter echoing off the barren trees, saying more than a thousand words could.

The End

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Thanks for putting up with my nonsense!!

For those wondering, I'm still hashing out the ending to Moonlight and I'm hoping to get it done by the end of this week.

Have a great day!

Cheryl W.


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